Tainted trio to fly for Doha to attend ICC hearing

Suspended Pakistani trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will fly out to Doha to attend a hearing of ICC's anti-corruption tribunal.

Written by Press Trust of India

Read Time: 2 mins

Karachi:

Suspended Pakistan cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will fly out to Doha tomorrow to attend a hearing of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Tribunal.

"The players are flying out tomorrow as the hearing begins from the January 6 and we need one day to settle down and be ready for the hearing," Amir's lawyer, Shahid Karim said.

The three-member tribunal will hold a six-day long session before delivering its verdict on the three players.

The trio have been charged with violations of ICC's Code of Conduct after they were alleged be have been involved in spot-fixing during Pakistan's tour of England in September last year.

Meanwhile Pakistan's ODI captain Shahid Afridi has said that it would be difficult for him to appear in person for the hearing before the tribunal as his wife is not keeping well.

"If my wife is ok I might go for the hearing if not then I will give my statement through a teleconference," Afridi said.

He also insisted that the impression that he was appearing as a witnesses against the trio was wrong.

"The situation is that I have already made a statement to the ICC and in it I just said what I saw and what is true," Afridi said.

"I can't now change my statement or I could get into trouble. But what I have said is what I observed and saw and what infact happened," he added.

Afridi, in his statement to the ICC had said: "When I arrived at the team hotel, I saw the three players in a room together and I thought that they looked guilty. When I spoke to them they told me that they had done nothing wrong.

"I then replied if you have done nothing wrong, there is no need to feel guilty."

Pakistan's head coach, Waqar Younis and former security officer of the team, Major Javed Najam are also due to testify before the tribunal.